New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-01-16
PRISONERS OF POVERTY.
FpMEN wAGE.woRKERs. THEIR TRADES
AND THEIR LIVES.
BY HELEN CAMPBELL.


Kill
loME DIFFICULTIES OF AN EMPLOYER WI" En-
PERnENTED.
The business face In the great cities is assimilat-
ar to such degree that all men are brothers in
sense and to an extent unrealized by themselves.
Compel ition has deepened lines till one type OF
NE employer in his first estate, while the struggle
still active and success uncertain. loses not only
touth and freshness but with them, zoo 0'eh'
my token Of owning q soul capable OF looRins %
yond the mucraxe by which money Is drawn III
II ne acquires calm and gIaclousness, III IL the
balmness of stibtlety and the graciousness oil He
determined schemer, who, finding every mans
hand practically against him. ar1an"es MS own ine
IN the same basis, and wages wal against ohe shan
healer or manufacturer below, and the monopoiist
sboye his one passionate desire being to escape
hom che ranks Of the first AMI find his name en-
Apiied among the last. He retains number OF
Negative virtues He is. as a rule. "an excellent
uroviderr where his own family is concerned, ana
h is kind beyond these limits IL he has time Tor
L. He would not deliberately harm man or
woman who serves him. but to keep even with MS
bompetitOrs-if possible to get beyond them-de-
mands and cxhalists every energy, leaving none
TO spare for other purposes. such knowledge US
comes from perpetual tact with the grasring
schemrg side of humanity Is his In fun. AS the
fortune grows and ease becomes certain well
Yed well groomed look TEL laces the eager sharpness
Of the early days. He may at this STAGE turn TO
horses the most positive source OF happiness
He is likely also, with or without this tendency
TO acquire taste for ART. measuring its value by
what It costs, and TO plan for himself house
representing the utmost that money can buy but
the house and It's treasures is after ALL but mauso
leun AMI the grave il covers holds the man that
might have been. Life IN its larger meanings has
remained q sealed book. and the gold counted ms
chief good becomes at last uncomfortable barrier
between him and any knowledge Of what might
have been his portion. lie is content and remains
content till the end. and that new beginning. In
which the starved sou, TO the first conscious
ness Of it's own most desperate and pitiful pverty
This for one type, and %ype more and more
common with every year Of the system In which
competition is king. But here and there one finds
another; that Of the man whose conscience remains
pensitve no matter what familiarity with legalized
knavcry may come, and who ponders the question
of whit he owes to those by whose aid his fortune
Is made. Nor is he the employer who evsdes the
real issue by series OF what he calls benefactions.
snd who organizes colonies for his work people in
which may bt found all the charm Of the feudal
ystem, and an underlying despotism no less feudai
He would gladly make his workers copatners
With him were I'M diligence enough developed
among them to admit such action, aud he expert
ments faithfully and patiently
II is such an employer whose own words best
give the story he has to tell ii Is not an Amer
lean that speaks. but German jew. title ofteh
the synonyme for depths of trickery. but more
pften than is known meaning its opposite LII al
points Keen sagacity rules II is true but there
Is also % large and tender nature. Borrowing WIN
the sorrow Of humanity and seeking anxiousiy
some means by which that sorrow may lessen
small manufacturer, fShting his way against
meHopoly; determinately honest in every thread
put into his goods: in every method of his trade;
his face shrewd vet gentle and wise, face thai
child or woman would trust. and the business
man bo certain he could impose upon, until some
sudden turn brought out the shrewdness and the
calm assurance Of absolute knowledge in his own
lines For thirty years and more his work has
held its own. and he has made for himself a place
in the trade that no crisis can AFFECT His own
view Of the situation Is distinctly Serious OUT
even for him there was h1ckerlng smile rs he
recalled some passages Of the experience given here
in part His English lmps slightly at moments
q. excitement, but his mastery Of its shades OF
meaning never. and this Is his version OF the
present ,lation between employer and employed
"In me always are two peoples. one that loves
work well, that must work ever to be happy
Is life even with work that is good and with
much to love. In village or in city, for l begin
with one and go on TO the other
In both alike it Is work ALWAYS
that is too much long hours when strength
Is gone and there should be rest but when always
man and woman, yes, and child. must 90 on Tor
the little more that more hours will earn. For
myself | want not what is called pleasure when
the day is done. A book that Is good contents
me- and is friend and amusement in one. But as
/ love a book more and more, and desire more
time to be with them. l begin first to think, why
should so many hours be given to work that there
are none in which have strength or time
or desire left for something that is better These
thinas think much of before l come 10 America
have my trade from my father and his father
We are silk weaveTs from the time silk Is known
but for myself have chosen ribbons. and 1t is
ribbons | make all my life and that my son will
make after me.
at first when como here TO this country that
Tor years hope for and must not reach because
am held to my father who is old an first
have little money and can only be with another
who manufactures. But already some dishonestes
have come in. The colors are not firm the silk
has weight given It, so that more body than is
belongs to the ribb, N there is inch maybe cut
short in the lengths There Is every way to make
the most and give the least And there is some
thing that from the days begin to think at all
seems ever injustice and wrong. Side by side IL
may be. men and women work together at the
looms. But for the women 1t is half. sometimes
two thirds. what the can earn. yet the work
tho same. This is something TO alter when time
is ripe and at Inst it is have saved rs
earned and added 10 what brin, with me. and
l buy for myself the plant Of q who retires
md get me place this place where l am. and
That changes little. His workers come with me
few. for begin with four looms only but soon
have seven. and SO 90 AT first think only
Of how l may shorten hours and make time for
them TO rest and learn what they will. but q good
friend OF mine from the beginning is doctor. and
As l 20 on he speaks TO me much of thinos 4